The European Commission has imposed provisional anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to 32.1 per cent on stainless steel drawn wire from India. The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy complaints were filed by EUROFER in June 2012. Dumped imports from India now represent over 19 per cent of European Union consumption of stainless steel drawn wire. At the same time they make up for more than 50 per cent of total imports into the EU.

Stainless drawn wire is used in diverse applications ranging from battery anodes to welding wire and nails or rivets. The most common requirement in these applications is corrosion resistance.

Imports from India had grown by almost 50 per cent in the years 2007 to 2011, while total EU consumption of the product decreased by five per cent over the same period. Market share of stainless drawn wire from India rose from eleven to over 18 per cent in the years mentioned, with an increase of six percentage points from 2010 to 2011 alone. Prices of imports from India have remained consistently below prices of imports from other countries.

This has caused serious difficulties for European producers, which had to cut production and have reported significant losses from 2007 until 2011. EUROFER Director General Gordon Moffat: “It is very urgent that the Commission restores fair competition here. A functioning market is both in the interest of the industry and the end users, particularly in a product range where our members see their downstream market being gradually taken away by unfair imports.”

Moffat also points out export duties of 15 per cent on stainless steel scrap that the Indian authorities have introduced. Stainless steel scrap is a major input material for stainless steel production. In EUROFER’s view the duties have contributed to lowering prices of downstream products such as stainless drawn wire. Gordon Moffat: “Europe has become the second largest exporter of scrap globally while there are more than 20 third countries which impose export restrictions on their domestic material. We ask the Commission to ensure a level playing field for our industry on the raw materials side, too.”